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The Tablet Menu Roll-Out
An Update on Last Week's Announcement
By Ray
 | | Uptown Grill Tablet Menu Instructions |
This past Tuesday, we went "live" with our new tablet menu. Goodbye paper, major planning, and proofreading over and over (and we still missed something every time). With these new tablet menus, we can make a change, one item (or one misplelling) at time. In 10 minutes, every single menu is updated.
Now that this project is complete we can give you the "spiel" that we are giving to every table when they are seated. If you want to get ahead of the game, we recorded it here for you. See how it works.........
This is such a game changer. I think we have yet to realize how many different ways it will affect us and you, the customer.
Eric Arsenault, the founder and president of iMenutech was our onsite trainer and installer. We were both watching early Tuesday evening when the first few customers took their quick 30 second training sessions. From a distance, we watched the smile on their faces. The first few tables all had at a least one senior citizen. I was relieved as we watched them swipe away and poke and prod the menu until they found their culinary contentment.
Read more about the first customer reactions, plus some of the initial glitches. We welcome your feedback, too... please share your thoughts!
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On Special
Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad
By Jimmy
 After last week's request to our readers asking for garden fresh tomatoes, it seems that time of year has finally begun. This is the season I love, when we get to reap the benefits from all the long, hot days of planting and weeding in our home gardens. Nothing beats a warm, never-been-refrigerated garden tomato. This year's tomato crops have taken some time to get going, according to what some gardeners have said. I have spoken to others who are still just seeing green ones on the vines. Whether you're overwhelmed with ripe tomatoes or you're still waiting for them to turn, keep 'em coming if you've got more than you know what to do with. We will be sure to put them to delicious good use!
This week - and likely most of August - we will be featuring our caprese salad. Although we recommend it as a cold, light appetizer on the menu, this dish can also be enjoyed as your meal or alongside your entrée course. Made with fresh pulled (in house) mozzarella, chiffonade of basil, olive oil and cracked black pepper, this dish features warm, juicy wonderful organic heirloom tomatoes. Trust me, this salad is just not the same with commercially purchased tomatoes!
Come taste summer and these delicious tomato flavors! Be sure to stop in soon... because they will be gone before you know it!
Learn more about heirloom tomatoes. If you've got any extras you can share, please let us know!
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You Think This is Easy?
If We Delete Your Favorite Menu Items...
By Ray
No, I am not stealing a slogan from my long-time friendly competitor the Monari family. Many years ago, they coined that phrase about our business and since then no one has said it better.
 | | Emersyn's Fettucini |
Now that we have this great tool for handling our menu presentation, someone had to sit down and make the actual decisions. It is always hard to determine what has to be pruned in order to enable new growth. Several years ago when we took shrooms off the menu, we had an organized group - "The Shroomies" - protest the move. We told them if they could get 100 people in a Facebook group we would bring them back. Before we knew it, they were back on the menu and we have kept our promise since.
I just want to show how hard it is. This past Sunday as we were putting the finishing touches on the menu, my son Ryan was reviewing one of the tablets at home with his wife and my granddaughter Emersyn. Upon the realization that her favorite dish (fettucini) was taken off the menu, I got the following text message from her (see video above). What's a Grandpa to do? You think this is easy?
In order to add things, we do need to take some things off. If we took one of your favorites off, let us know. With as easy as it is to make these new digital changes, we just might have it return....
Blog with us: Will you look for a new fan favorite? Or petition to get yours back?
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New Menu Item
Single Cheese Samples
By Ryan
The new digital menus have given us a chance to utilize the variety of artisanal cheeses in our kitchen. If there was one comment we received more than any other in regards to our cheese sampler, it is that we needed to find a way to offer just one cheese. Well, this new menu affords us the opportunity! We have an entire menu page dedicated to our cheeses from around the world.
 The reason behind wanting to offer single cheese samples is because some of the cheeses that come in, are not only some of the most flavorful cheeses we have ever tasted, but they also feature many interesting aspects. From cheeses that come in completely covered in leaves or aged in a dark cave for eight months, to a Swiss cheese from my grandparents' home town of St. Gallen, Switzerland or from a small town in Fithian, Illinois, there are so many interesting stories or handling processes behind their exterior. Now, with the quick touch of a menu screen, we can share this information with you.
As we have put these samplers together, we usually have a favorite or denote one as the "most interesting." Now, you can read through the list and pick out the one you find the most intriguing. You can even try and pair it with your favorite salad, appetizer or wine.
My favorite combination, though, would be pairing the #5 offering (typically bleu cheese) out of the listing of 6 choices, with one of the Tawny Port wines off of our port wine list. The possibilities are endless... try for yourself!
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In the News
Uptown Wins TripAdvisor Award
By Brianne
 Uptown Grill was recently announced as the recipient of a 2013 TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence Award. We were awarded the honor based on hospitality excellence with an overall rating of four or higher out of a possible five.
Only the top-performing 10 percent of businesses listed on TripAdvisor receive this prestigious award. To qualify for a Certificate of Excellence, businesses must consistently achieve outstanding traveler reviews.
We are proud that our efforts have been recognized by TripAdvisor. We're also pleased that we've been honored based on feedback from those that matter most - our customers!
At the Uptown, we continually strive to offer a great restaurant experience through top-notch service and menu selections. Stop in and see us!
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On Special
Mako Shark
By Josh
 In honor of the infamous Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, we're biting back by offering mako shark on the menu. Grilled to perfection and served with our housemade black bean mango salsa, this dish is paired with your choice of our special seasonal vegetables of sauteed broccolini in white wine and plugra butter with cracked red pepper flakes or our freshly steamed vegetable mix.
Mako shark is moist and slightly sweet with a full-bodied, meaty taste. Both flavor and texture are similar to swordfish, but the flesh of the mako is moister, and the meat is not as sweet. Fresh, raw mako is very soft and ivory-pink or a muddy, reddish color that turns ivory white and firm when cooked and is often mistaken for swordfish meat.
Along with our new tablet menus and our fresh summer selections, mako shark is an exotic dish that will rarely be found anywhere else in this parts. Working perfectly with our fresh heirloom caprese salad and glass of red wine, it's the perfect (and healthy) way to keep those warm summer nights here just a little bit longer.
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Burger Me Thursday
Choose any microbrew or bottled beer to accompany a different and
enticing burger, every Thursday, for just $10.
 Next Week: August 15Italian Stallion
Meat lovers have met their match with this week's burger creation! We top our half pound angus beef patty with mortadella, sopressata, prosciutto and rosmarino ham. A touch of pepperoncini and provolone complete this mouthwatering homage to Italia! Buon appetito!
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Uptown Playlist Theater
We now have tickets available for sale on our website.
Please purchase tickets either online by clicking here or in person only.
Friday, August 16th
Tickets $20
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With our weekly specials menu, you won't find any 2 for 1 deals or two 4-course meal options for $20, but what you will find are quality products offered at a true value. Come see why we sell more steak diane or weinerschnitzel in one night than we do some menu items in a week. Or why some of these evenings have developed a type of cult following. They are the real deal.
Our weekly specials (a new one each day) are below:
 steak diane, every monday evening
the original red door inn steak diane! 6oz filet mignon medallion. served with mushroom marsala sauce, celery and button mushrooms. Victor approved! available monday evening only after 4pm. 17.75
 fish tacos, every tuesday all day
soft flour tortillas filled with panko crusted tilapia, red cabbage, chipotle mayonnaise and mango pineapple black bean salsa
3 for 7.75 or 2.75 each
weiner schnitzel, every wednesday evening
veal cutlet lightly floured and sauteed, served with veal demi glaze, spaetzel and roasted asparagus. available wednesday evening only after 4pm. 12.75
 "burger me" every thursday all day
choose any microbrew or bottled beer to accompany a different and enticing burger every week. served with a heaping plate of our housemade fries. all for 10.00.
(see this week's creative concoction above)
 oscar sunday! every sunday, all day!
every sunday is oscar sunday. choose from the following oscars: new york strip, veal, chicken, grouper or portobello mushroom. Top your choice with asparagus, lump crab and béarnaise sauce.
12.75 each
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"Like" us on Facebook and be the first to know about
food specials, drinks, and MORE!
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Foodie Fight
 Each week in the newsletter, we will ask three questions from the "Foodie Fight" cards. The first person to email us (see link below) the correct answers to all three questions will receive a complimentary lunch. The winner has to have the exact answer for all three questions, no exceptions! The following week we will publish the correct answers and the winner of the previous week. So come in and have a drink, study the cards, test each other and have fun.
Good Luck!
1. What recently resurrected World War I initiative calls eaters to action on Mondays for the health of people and the planet?
2. What kind of farming is USDA certified, avoids synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, and bans the use of animal by-products, antibiotics and sewage sludge?
3. What is the title of an international network of regional magazines about community-based local foods?
Fine Print:
- You must be the first person to respond with all three correct answers.
- The response must go to the email address in the above link.
- You must reply within 24 hours from the time the newsletter is published.
- Participants are eligible to win up to 3 times a year.
Last Week's Questions & Answers:
1. Which conventionally raised vegetable is likely to be lowest in pesticide contamination - bell pepper, celery, kale or onion? .........onion
2. True or False: In winter squash, a green stem and skin that is easily scraped off are signs of a fresh squash picked at maturity................false
3. What is the not-part-of-the-recipe purpose of keeping a bowl of ice water nearby when cooking caramel? .................first aid for cook in case of burn
Last Week's Winner: ...................Rolf Schmidt |
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Uptown Grill
601 First Street | LaSalle, IL 61301 | 815.224.4545
Monday - Thursday: 11am -10pm
Friday - Saturday: 11am - 11pm
Sunday: 12noon - 10pm
uptowngrill.com
Uptown respects your privacy and will not sell or distribute your personal information. |
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